“My dad was on a 60-pounder,” said Jeff, “and when I hooked up he said I had one just like it. Then it pulled me right over, and pinned me to the rail and bent me over, so I knew it was a big one. I had it on an eight-foot jig stick for half and hour. It almost spooled me and then took me halfway around the boat. Then it dogged me straight up and down.”

The jackpot was a father-son sweep by Jeff and his dad Don Gardner. Don’s 64-pounder won second place.

Previous best bluefin June 26: A 73-pound bluefin by Harv Domsalla of Douglas, WY, on Polaris Supreme, out of a school of albacore. It beat Domsalla up for 45 minutes.

“He kept making runs,” said Harv. “I credit the crew for helping me get it aboard. I’m a novice. The other anglers helped a lot, too, by moving out of the way while he waltzed me around the boat about four times.”

Harv said he fished a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad hook, with an outfit borrowed from the boat: 30-pound P-Line, a TLD 15 reel and a six-foot rod.

Biggest Wahoo July 7: A 76-pound wahoo on Royal Polaris by Angel Cruz of San Diego on a Fish Trap seven-inch swim bait in white “glow” color. Angel won first place for his lanky prize. He said he took it on straight Spectra, an Accurate 665 N reel and a Calstar 6480 rod.

Best Albacore July 16: Joe Chait’s Pegasus returned to Fisherman’s Landing July 16 after a two-day trip with the best longfin taken aboard a charter or day boat this year.

The big “Albert” weighed 55.6 pounds on the landing’s certified scales, and was caught by Moses Diaz of Covina, on a sardine, a 2/0 hook and 25-pound line.

Best Albacore On A Long Range Boat: Randy Toussaint docked Royal Star at Fisherman’s Landing July 16. The big longfin weighed 47.4 pounds on the certified scales, taken by Roger Nies of San Diego. He bagged it with a sardine on 50-pound line. “I got eight albacore,” said Roger. “They were biting pretty good.”

Best White Seabass July 14: The best fish of American Angler trip was a 60-pound white seabass caught by John Specht of La Crescenta; the biggest of its kind caught this year, on a sardine, a 5/0 Gorilla hook, 40-pound Izorline on an Avet 4/0 reel and a 6460 Calstar rod.

“It took about 15 minutes, said John. “He ran around the boat and came back on the surface. It was a lot of fun!”

Best Bigeye Tuna July 14: An 81-pound bigeye tuna that came out of a school of albacore was the first tuna of its kind to come in on a long range boat this season, and it won the Polaris Supreme jackpot for rookie angler Carl Geosana of Whittier at Fisherman’s Landing. Geosana said he spent an hour and 15 minutes on the 81-pounder.

“I almost went overboard when he bit,” said Carl. “He went down, and then he pulled me up to the bow, and I had to get over the anchor there at least ten times. He kept making runs, until the reel got red hot.”

Carl said he fished a sardine on a 3/0 Eagle Claw hook, and used 30-pound Big Game line, a Penn 500 reel and a seven-foot Ugly Stick rod.

Best Yellowtail May 27: Jeff DuBuys docked Independence after a five-day trip to the albacore grounds and the Benitos Islands. The trip’s jackpot winner had what is likely the biggest yellowtail to come from the Benitos, a 65-pound mossback caught by Denny Walker of Phoenix.